Weekly News Update

*The attorney of former Connecticut Gov. John Rowland has filed a brief with a federal appeals court saying Rowland’s convictions in political consulting schemes should be overturned, including an allegation that prosecutors withheld evidence favorable to the defense. [NBC Connecticut]

*Former NFL players who object to terms of the potential $1 billion concussion settlement have filed appeals that are likely to delay payouts to thousands of retirees until next year. [ABC News]

*A Putnam County man convicted in a 2008 murder of a tow-truck driver will get a new trial because of “highly prejudicial” evidence used against him the first time around, an appeals court ruled. [New York Post]

*Reversing a decision by the Appellate Division, the Court of Appeals has held in a 5-2 decision that a charitable organization is not entitled to a continued exemption from real property taxes for the public parking facilities it owns and operates. [Lexology]

*A federal appeals court revived two inmates’ prison sex abuse lawsuit last Tuesday, finding that the judge who threw out the case had too narrowly interpreted a 1997 ruling on what amounts to cruel and unusual punishment and should have considered how far “standards of decency” have evolved since. [Capital New York]

*A New Jersey man who admitted to strangling his parents and burying them in a park before going on a shopping spree with his girlfriend had his murder conviction overturned Monday after the state Supreme Court ruled that his confession was obtained improperly. [NY Times]

*No politician could avoid federal prison if held to the same standard as Rod Blagojevich, the imprisoned ex-governor’s lawyer said. That’s the pitch his legal team could soon make to the U.S. Supreme Court after a long-shot bid in the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals fell flat Wednesday. [Chicago Sun-Times]